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Ottawa Senators at the 20-Game Mark

Ottawa has reached the 20-game mark and it’s time to take stock and see how the team has performed. The Sens went 6-3-1 (identical to the previous ten games) which puts them 4th in the conference and they remain 2nd in the division. Their 48 goals for is eighth in the conference and their 37 goals against is second. Ottawa’s powerplay dropped to 17th overall (16.7%); they continue to have the 3rd best penalty killing in the league (88.0%) while being the 8th most penalized team; they have the 5th best 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio (1.26).

Besides the many injures to the team over this period (Karlsson, Michalek, Regin, and Anderson), what’s apparent is that the Sens have been able to win by committee. No one player has dominated, with Greening and Alfredsson sharing the scoring lead with a modest 5 points over ten games. The blueline, in the absence of Karlsson, has provided virtually no offense (trio tied at 2 points each), while on the forward side Turris is in the midst of an awful slump. The Sens combination of great goaltending, excellent penalty killing, and strong defensive play has been enough (thus far) to keep them high in the standings. Condra and Zibanejad lead the plus/minus column (+3), while the demoted Da Costa was a team worst -3. Of the Binghamton players brought up both Gryba and Dziurzynski look like they belong, with the latter being the biggest surprise as he was not in the midst of a great season in the AHL. O’Brien‘s play has suffered after a hot start, while Lundin‘s debut has been a big disappointment. I’ve long thought that Bryan Murray’s pro scouting (signing free agents and making trades) does not match his amateur scouting and I wonder if some moves will be made in that regard.

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I generally agree with you over Murray’s record of pro scouting but like everything in pro sports there are exceptions. Foligno for Methot appears to have been a fantastic trade. Outside of the dreadful first year, it has been hard to complain about Gonchar. The Heatley trade was Murray with his hands tied and within two years is a toss up for either team.

Turris is frankly suffering from playing above his talent. He was absolutely killing it early on when the opposing defence had to play against Spezza, hes a solid no.2, not a no.1 center.

Well disappointing, Lundin was signed as a depth defenceman, not a full time roster player. He was gone at the end of the year anyway.
Considering what we have now for next year on defence:

Methot-Karlsson
Cowen-Wierioch
Boro/Phillips-Gryba

This doesn’t even take in to account Benoit (a favourite of the Murrays as depth or leader in Bingo) or a resigning of Gonchar for one more year. Ceci-Claesson are more than a year away from what I’ve seen.

I didn’t mean to give the impression that Murray’s pro scouts were wrong *all* the time, I just think they compare poorly to his amateur scouting which is an indication there’s room for improvement. I agree wholeheartedly that Turris is very effective when he’s the second line center–whether he’s not ready for prime time at #1 or will never be ready is still (I think) an open question. I don’t think Gonchar will be back, but I agree with you that the blueline looks good going forward (as does the entire roster save, perhaps, a replacement for Spezza whenever that becomes necessary). This is largely a compliment to the aforementioned amateur scouting staff.

With a healthy roster, (assuming we don’t make it in the next 2 years where Spezza will still easily be in his prime) a “Boston style” deep-but not exceptional center path is likely the way to go. Sorry that I misinterpreted your point, I agree in comparison it is quite poor.

Sigh…the Murray era has so dramatically reinforced the dead zone that was his predecessor Muckler. 5 players drafter over 6 years remain with the team. Of them only Regin made the team quickly. Greening/Gryba*/Condra all took 4 years of college and AHL play time before they made it. Dawg is a fringe NHLer at best.

Whereas with Murray in 4 years of drafting (I do not factor in this past year) we already have Karlsson/Cowen/Turris*/Jakub/Zjad/Smith/Weircoch/Lehner (a foregone conclusion barring an absurd offer from another team) forming a core for the future. Followed by this are a 2nd wave of Dizzy/Hoffman/Stone/Noesen/Puempel/Boro/Claesson. Grant/Prince/Pageau/Da Costa all have certain skills to make it but have notable question marks or in Grants case depth at the position. Even the departed Foligno was a successful, if not spectacular draft pick by Murray who appears to have been successfully parlayed into a key asset.

* Given Gryba’s plays as well as his size and right handed shot, I assume he has made the team going forward in some capacity.

** Given that Turris was a flip for Rundbland and a young player I keep him in the same vein as the other young picks.

It’s definitely a big contrast from Muckler’s era and the future definitely seems bright. Some of the names you mentioned will undoubtedly flop or not perform as expected, but overall it’s a good crop and provides the foundation the franchise needs.

[…] time to take stock and see how the team has performed. The Sens went 4-2-4 (here’s the previous ten games) which puts them 5th in the conference and drops them to 3rd in the division (opening a […]

[…] lost for the rest of the regular season, and the Mark Borowiecki experiment came and went The next segment saw the Sens again go 6-3-1, with Colin Greening and Daniel Alfredsson leading the way with a […]